Saundra Graham

{{Short description|American politician (1940/1941–2023)}}

{{Distinguish|Sandra Graham}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Saundra Graham

| honorific_suffix =

| image = 1977 Saundra Graham Massachusetts House of Representatives (1).png

| alt =

| caption = Graham circa 1977

| birth_date = {{birth date|1941|09|05}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|06|23|1941|09|05}}

| death_place =

| office1 = Member of the Cambridge City Council

| term_start1 = 1971

| term_end1 = 1989

| state_house2 = Massachusetts

| district2 = 4th Middlesex

| term_start2 = 1977

| term_end2 = 1988

}}

Saundra Graham (September 5, 1941[https://books.google.com/books?id=-jIXAQAAMAAJ&q=Saundra+Graham+Sep.+5+,+1941]https://cambridgeblackhistoryproject.org/project/saundra-graham/ – June 23, 2023https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/saundra-graham-obituary?id=52398590) was an American independent politician from Cambridge, Massachusetts. She served as a Cambridge City Councilor from 1971 to 1989,{{Cite book|last=Hayden|first=Robert C.|url=http://archive.org/details/africanamericans00hayd_0|title=African-Americans in Boston: More than 350 Years|publisher=Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston|year=1991|isbn=0-89073-083-0|edition=2nd|location=Boston, Massachusetts|pages=99}} and represented the 4th Middlesex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1977 to 1988.

In 1968, Graham became a member of the Cambridge Community Center’s board of directors. Two years later, she was chosen as president of the Riverside Planning Team, a group of housing activists in the Cambridge neighborhood of Riverside.{{Cite web|title=Self-Guided Tour: Women Activists of Riverside 50 Years After Suffrage {{!}} History Cambridge|url=https://historycambridge.org/featured/self-guided-tour-women-activists-of-riverside-50-years-after-suffrage/|access-date=2021-09-30|website=historycambridge.org}} In 1970, the Riverside Planning Team interrupted Harvard's commencement ceremony, and Graham stormed the stage and demanded that the university dedicate land in Riverside which had been set aside for a planned dorm to low-income housing.{{cite news|title=Woman Storms, Takes Over Ceremony |last=Gell |first = Jeffrey |work=Harvard Crimson| url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1995/6/6/woman-storms-takes-over-ceremony-pit/ |date=June 6, 1995}}{{cite news|title=Treeland: The High-Rises Harvard Never Built |last1=Lear |first1 = Henry |last2=Wall-Feng |first2=Bea|work=Harvard Crimson| url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/10/6/Treeland-riverside-harvard-1970/ |date=October 6, 2022}} Members of the Harvard Corporation met with Graham and the activists, and after several hours they reached an agreement in which the university would build low-income housing on a different site. The following year, Graham was elected the first African-American woman on the Cambridge City Council, and she went on to become the first Black woman to represent Cambridge in the state legislature.

The Graham and Parks School in Cambridge is named for her and Rosa Parks.{{Cite book |last=Greeley |first=Kathy |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.16738702 |title=Testing Education: A Teacher's Memoir |date=2024 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |isbn=978-1-62534-784-8 |pages=53 |doi=10.2307/jj.16738702}}

Graham died on June 23, 2023, at the age of 81.[https://www.cambridgeday.com/2023/06/28/saundra-graham-dies-at-81-legislator-and-leader-who-stormed-harvard-stage-against-displacement/ Saundra Graham, dies at 81; legislator and leader who stormed Harvard stage against displacement]